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The Matrix
"A Detective Story"
Animatrix
Animated short
Written and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe
2003 |
A private eye is hired to track down
an elusive and mysterious hacker named Trinity.
Read the story summary at the Matrix Wiki
Didja Know?
"A Detective Story" was an animated short
that appeared on the
Animatrix video released in 2003 with seven other
animated shorts. It is presented in black-and-white like a
1940's-'50s film noir detective movie.
The character of Trinity is voiced by Carrie-Anne Moss, the
actress who portrays her in the Matrix films.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
Ash
Dinah
Agents (unnamed)
Trinity
Clarence
Didja Notice?
The sign outside Ash's P.I. office has a large model pistol
as part of the signage. It is a
Colt
Police Positive revolver.
At 0:38 in the video, the wall clock in Ash's office has
Roman numerals on it with the number four represented by IV.
However, the tradition on Roman numeral clocks is to use IIII as four
instead of the normal IV.
The city the story takes place in is not named, but the map
on the wall of Ash's office shows locations named Gowanus
Bay and Greenwood Cemetery. These names and the contours on
the map appear to represent
Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. Of course, this
would be a version of Brooklyn
inside the Matrix.
Ash remarks that he used to think being a private detective
was cool, "like Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe." Spade and
Marlowe are both private eye characters in hard-boiled
detective fiction. Both characters were also famously
portrayed by actor Humphrey Bogart in films.
Ash's office is seen to have address 201 on the door. The
"2" would tend to imply it is on the second floor of the
building.
Ash's cat is named Dinah. In Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel
Through the Looking-Glass, a sequel to Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland, Alice's cat is also named
Dinah.
At 1:53 on the video, flashing signs for Pop City, Holyday,
and Birdie are seen in the city background. As far as I can
tell, these are fictitious businesses. At 2:28, signs for
Mopar, Lighthouse, and Chry Cafeteria are seen outside the
passenger window of Ash's car. Mopar may be a reference to
the parts, service, and customer care division of Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles (though it is associated with,
generally, auto dealerships and repair shops, not a
stand-alone business in itself). Chry Cafeteria may be another
reference to Chrysler but, of course, Chrysler is not known
for its cafeterias! Lighthouse may refer to various
charitable organizations for the blind that use "Lighthouse"
in their names.
Though not named in the story, the P.I. who went crazy in
his search for Trinity is called Clarence in the closing
credits of The Animatrix.
Clarence has the phrase "Find the Red Queen" painted on the
wall of his flat. Trinity turns out to be the Red Queen, a
title borrowed from a character in Through the
Looking-Glass. The man also mumbles that Trinity
doesn't exist, that "he's" a Jabberwocky.
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense-verse poem by Lewis Carroll
which first appeared in
Through the Looking-Glass.
At 5:51 on the video, Ash's cat Dinah is on the fire escape
and has Ash's hat gripped in her mouth, tossing her head
to throw it to him on the sidewalk below before he can race
off into the snowy night in his quest for Trinity. Awfully
smart and talented cat! In the Matrix, pets are merely
programmed digital constructs; are all cats in the Matrix
designed as more intelligent than the real world animal? Or
is something else in the Matrix helping Ash?
Trinity uses a relatively small,
pistol-shaped device to remove a "bug" from Ash's eye. The
bug
is a cybernetic implant placed by the machines, allowing
Agents to track him as he closes in on Trinity's location.
In
The Matrix, Neo has a bug removed as well, but
his bug is larger and was implanted in his naval. The device
Trinity uses to remove Neo's bug is much larger than the
one seen here. So, why the differences? Does Neo's larger
bug do more than Ash's did? It doesn't seem like it. And why
would Trinity need to use such a large device to remove
Neo's bug when smaller, more easily portable ones are
available? Of course, it's probably just something we have
to chalk up to artistic license. |
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Bug remover pistol in
"A Detective Story" |
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Bug removal device in
The Matrix |
The Agents who track Ash and Trinity to the train fire
Desert Eagle pistols at them. The Agents typically carry
Desert Eagles in all their appearances. Ash wields a Colt
Detective Special, while Trinity uses a
Beretta 92FS Compact pistol.
When Ash is in the throes of being transformed into an
Agent, Trinity shoots him the chest. This stops the
transformation and allows her to escape even though Ash is
still alive after the gunshot (though it's implied he died
shortly after).
Memorable Dialog
flattery will get you everywhere.mp3
I think you could've handled the truth.mp3
a case to end all cases.mp3
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